Watershed Restoration in Badia Areas of Jordan

The ICARDA‐USFS MoA Amendment A1 & A2 proposal defines the activities planned for the time‐period 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020, related with the ‘Watershed Restoration in Badia Areas of Jordan ‐ Technology Packages for Controlling and Monitoring Gully Erosion’ project granted by the US Forest Service. The project was launched in August 2015 and funded by the US Forest Service ‐ with ICARDA providing a support and recovery budget for the time‐period August 2018 to May 2019. The new amendments (A1 & A2), starting from June 1, 2019, are granted by the US Forest Service.

1) research site security, 2) maintenance of watershed restoration implementation, 3) basic monitoring of soil, water and vegetation response to the various watershed restoration efforts undertaken in the past. 4) RBG Study site monitoring and assessment, 5) Watershed modeling ‐ water balance assessment.

The project will be evaluating the impacts of restoration practices on water dynamics while introducing new technologies, continuing the maintenance and monitoring of rehabilitation sites, strengthening existing partnerships, and ensuring communication and dissemination of knowledge. This will lead to better understanding of the rehabilitation impacts on land degradation reduction, improving rangeland conditions, and ensuring that local communities are partners in the restoration process. The project will lead to the out-scaling of the proven rehabilitation approaches with the aim of rehabilitating the degraded lands in Badia, Jordan.

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In 2020, ICARDA developed a community-based watershed rehabilitation approach that effectively  restores degraded rangelands in Badia, Jordan. This decreased the fodder shortage of local livestock keepers who will, in turn, rely less on external aid to feed their animals. In the same year, ICARDA joined an inter-regional Technical Cooperation Program project, run by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, on combatting sand and dust storms. The research considerable on-site benefits (less soil and carbon loss) and off-site impacts (less dust transported to urban areas) through mechanized micro-water harvesting and plantation of native shrubs in Badia. 

In 2022, under the USFS funded project in Jordan (part of the umbrella Watershed Restorations Project), ICARDA established a new site in Khanasry station to monitor soil humidity and rangeland productivity. Students from Utrecht University modeled and quantified runoff and soil loss for a degraded and restored Jordan side, and developed a suitability map of mechanized micro-rainwater harvesting for enhancing carbon sequestration in the Badia.